Page 121 of Theirs to Take

She had waited a whole week to finally see the doctor that Alex’s wife, Nova, recommended. From the way that her cousin’s wife gushed about the doctor, she was worth the wait. Carrie was willing to go to town to the local clinic to see a doctor, but Nova convinced her to hold out to see her doctor.

Over the past week, Evan and she had driven to work and then back home, under heavy security. All she wanted was to run by her place or even just out for a quick lunch, but she had agreed to follow her cousin’s and Evan’s rules. It was for her own good and she knew it, but she was going a bit stir-crazy as if waiting for something to happen.

Alex and Rod had arranged for her father to come to stay with them, but it was taking forever to get him to the states. Every time she asked one of her cousins about the holdup, they came up with a million different excuses. The one person who gave her straight answers was avoiding the topic of her father. Every time she brought him up, Evan changed the subject. If all went well, her dad would be in America by the end of the week. All she really cared about was that he was safe, and she wasn’t even sure if that was the truth.

Spending every night just down the hall from Evan was beginning to play with her overly active hormones too. Spending every waking hour with the man wasn’t a hardship, but she had to remember her place. She was his assistant and crossing that line might not be a good idea. Evan seemed to be the kind of guy who liked rules and breaking them didn’t seem like something that he did easily.

She grabbed her purse and jacket; walking down to the kitchen to find Evan. They hadn’t really discussed him goingwith her to the doctor, but she would need a ride since she was without a car. “Um, I’m ready to head to my appointment,” she said, finding Evan sitting at the kitchen table. He looked almost as nervous as she felt. “I can get the security guard out front to drive me if you have a meeting or something.”

“My schedule is clear,” Evan said, although she already knew that. Carrie was just trying to give him an out if he wanted to take one. “I don't mind taking you.”

“Okay, thank you,” she breathed.

They rode in silence into the doctor’s office, and she wanted to ask Evan what was wrong, but she knew better than to do that just before her appointment. If there was a problem, it could wait until after she got to see the doctor and know that her baby was okay.

As soon as they got to the office, she was shown back to an examination room and given a handful of papers to fill out. She tried to tell the nurse that she didn’t have her healthcare information yet, since it had probably been sent to her apartment and she wasn’t allowed over there to collect her mail, but the nurse told her that everything on the insurance end of things had been taken care of. From the guilty look on Evan’s face, he was the one who had handled it all for her and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to thank him or tell him to cut it out. With all of the men in her life trying to take care of her, she’d never learn to fend for herself, and now, she was going to have a baby to take care of too.

Before she was even finished filling out the paperwork, the doctor walked into the room and started asking what felt like a million questions. Carrie patiently answered them all and then, the doctor told her that she was going to be able to see her baby today, she couldn’t hold back the tears. She worried that they’d find that there was something wrong with the baby and whenthe doctor stepped out of the room to get the sonogram machine, she broke down completely.

“Hey, what’s this all about?” Evan asked. He was by her side, holding her hand, trying to soothe away her fears.

“I’m worried that she’ll find something wrong with the baby,” she sobbed.

“Why would you jump to that conclusion?” Evan asked.

“Because nothing about life has been easy these past couple of months. When I first realized that I was pregnant, I actually wished that the test was wrong. I didn’t want this baby, and what if I jinxed myself? What if I wished for something to be wrong with my baby?”

“First of all, I don’t think that you have that kind of power,” Evan said. “No offense,” he quickly added.

“None taken,” Carrie whispered.

“And second, you’ve been fine this whole time, right? No pains of any kind, so I’m betting that the baby is just fine,” Evan assured. The doctor came back into the room as Carrie wiped her eyes, trying to regain her composure.

“Ready to see your baby?” she asked.

“I’m ready,” she agreed. Evan squeezed her hand into his own, reminding her that he was still holding hers, and she smiled up at him. The doctor helped her shimmy her pants down to her hips and squirted some warm gel onto her lower abdomen. Within seconds, the sound of the baby’s incredibly fast heartbeat filled the small room, and Carrie started crying all over again.

“The heartbeat is strong,” the doctor said. She told Carrie that she was going to take a few measurements of the baby and when she finished, she turned back on the lights and handed Carrie a few pictures. “Everything looks great,” she said. “You look to be just over two months pregnant.” That was about what she had figured. The doctor told her that she’d need to be seenagain in another four weeks and to make her appointment at the front desk. Carrie thanked the doctor and asked Evan to wait for her in the reception area so that she could clean herself up. He nodded and turned to leave the room, stopping in the doorway. Evan turned back to face her, and she felt as though she was holding her breath waiting for him to say something—anything.

“Thank you for letting me be a part of this today,” he whispered.

“Thank you for coming with me,” Carrie said. “I don’t think that I would have been able to get through today without you here by my side, Evan.” Admitting that might not be her best idea, but she meant it.

“Carrie,” he breathed. “I know that I shouldn’t tell you this, and maybe here and now isn’t the right time and place, but I have feelings for you.” He stared her down, and she wasn’t sure what to say next. Did she admit that she felt the same way or play it safe and not say anything? Disappointment flashed across his hazel eyes, and she knew that her moment had passed.

“It’s okay,” he said, “you don’t have to say anything.” He turned to walk out of the tiny examination room, and she almost wanted to call him back in, but she knew better. Not admitting her feelings to him was for the best. She liked her new job—she needed it to be able to take care of herself and her unborn child. Telling her boss that she had feelings for him too would have been a huge mistake, and she didn’t have room for any more of them in her life.

Evan

Evan was up half the night, trying to talk himself out of walking down the hallway to Carrie’s room. Being with her today—seeing the baby on the sonogram screen made him think of things that he had never considered before. Namely, a woman and a family—the whole nine yards. And for some reason now, his brain was telling him that he could have all of that with Carrie, even as irrational as it sounded when he said those words out loud. Telling her that he had feelings for her at her appointment was a giant mistake. He could tell that as soon as the words had left his mouth and Carrie looked at him as though he had lost his mind. Talk about having cold water tossed on his ego.

When he was just about to give up and walk down to her room to take back everything that he had said to her earlier, his stomach rumbled. Evan decided that a midnight snack was much safer than exposing himself to Carrie again, so he walked down to the kitchen, not even giving her door a second glance as he walked by it. He was proud of himself for not giving in to temptation but knew it would be short-lived when he foundCarrie standing in the middle of his kitchen, wearing just his t-shirt, and eating ice cream directly out of the container.

“Sorry,” she said around a mouthful of ice cream. “I was hungry.”

“Me too,” he admitted. He looked her over and smiled. “Nice shirt,” he said.

“Oh, yeah,” she breathed, “I forgot to tell you that I ran out of clean pajamas and had to borrow one of your t-shirts while I work on laundry.” He shrugged as though it was no big deal, but it was.

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